498 PERCHING BIRDS 



furze, moss, bents, and spiders' web, so loosel\- put together as to be 

 translucent when held up to the liijht. The four or five eggs are 

 greenish white, heavily blotched and spotted with dark olive-brown, 

 and with underlying grey markings. 



The Mediterranean countries are the home of two ncarh- allied 

 warblers of rather large size, which represent a genus by themselves, 

 one of these, the rufous warbler {Acdon ' galactodes or Agrobatcs 

 galactodes) having been taken on four occasions in the British Islands 

 during the nineteenth century. It is characterised by the long tail 

 and feet, the cinnamon colouring of the upper and the sandy brown 

 hue of the under parts, as well as b)- the circumstance that the bristles 

 at the gape form a horizontal row, without any smaller additional ones. 

 In its native countries the bird haunts semi-desert districts, with 

 scattered cactuses and shrubs. Of the four specimens above referred 

 to, one was taken in Sussex in 1854, two occurred in Devonshire, in 

 1859 and 1876, and the fourth was captured in Ireland in the latter 

 year. Of the grey-backed warbler ( Aidon faniilinris), \\\\\ch. replaces 

 the last in Asia Minor, Turkey, and Greece, and is greyish brown rather 

 than rufous-brown on the upper-parts, with the middle pair of tail-feathers 

 brown in place of chestnut, a specimen was shot at Hythe in July i 907. 



Wood-Wren Although this species is generally referred to in 



(PhvlloscoDus ornithological works as the wood - warbler, its 



sibilator) vernacular name is wood -wren, and b\' this title 



it ought to be known. It is the tjpe of a group 



of about half-a-score of species characterised by their small size and 



the predominance of yellow and green in the plumage. The beak is 



small and delicate, the tail slightly forked, and the series of small 



bristles at the gape su[)plemented by others in front. Unlike those of 



the true warblers, the nests are generally placed on the ground, and the 



eggs are usually more or less distinctly spotted or dotted, instead of 



blotched. The sj^ecies are difficult to distinguish. The yellow and 



green colour of the plumage is an adaptation to render these birds 



inconspicuous in the foliage amid which they habitually dwell ; and 



to this circumstance they owe their generic name PJiylloscopus. 



The wood-wren is the larger of the three representatives of the 

 group which habitually visit the l^ritish Islands, measuring just over 

 5 inches in length." It is further distinguished b\- the first primar\- quill 



' This name is employed l)y some as the generic title of the nightingale (see p. 463). 

 ^ .Somewhat smaller measurements are given for this and the next s|)ecies in Sharpe's 

 British Hirds. 



